Followers

Skipper craves top job at Chelsea after he hangs up his boots

Chelsea captain John Terry has admitted that he would love to manage the club when his playing career finally comes to an end.

The influential Blues defender has claimed that he has, along with Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole, already looked into obtaining the necessary coaching badges.

At just 28-years-old and having recently signed a new five-year contract at Stamford Bridge, there is certainly plenty of playing time left in Terry's career but that has not stopped him considering his options for the future.

"I want to go into management after I finish playing, even though it's a lot of pressure," the England skipper told the Daily Express.

"I would love to be Chelsea manager, and that's the natural progression. I would want to go straight in at the deep end.

"I want to do it for the love of football, even though I know that as manager the pressure falls on your head and I know players are a nightmare.

"Your playing career goes so quickly and older players have always advised me, 'Take your badges, take your badges', which me, Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole are looking into.

"Depending on what we have to do, I think we go straight to the B licence. We could coach the kids after training and get our badges that way.

"I have played under some great managers and have kept notes of training sessions. Even when managers do things I don't agree with I note it down, so I remember not to do that. It sounds silly now but, hopefully, it will be helpful.

"When Jose Mourinho was at Chelsea, I used to get coaching sessions off him, Guus Hiddink as well. And Chelsea keep records, so I could go back and see what we did in every training session. But it's good for me to have that folder and those ideas ready to use.

"You have to bounce ideas and feelings off the players because they are the ones on the training pitch. That is so important.

"It's vital you get feedback and I get feedback off players. When we do a good training session and the lads are saying, 'That was good today' and talking, I'm straight in, writing it down and keeping a record."

Terry went on to state that he regularly speaks with West Ham United manager Gianfranco Zola, a former team-mate of his at Chelsea.

"I also look at Gianfranco Zola and Steve Clarke, who were at Chelsea and have stepped in at a good level over at West Ham and have brought new ideas with them," he added.

"I speak to Zola on a weekly basis and find out what he's doing. They played under some great managers and used that.

"It's so important I keep absorbing stuff over the next five years. But I don't know exactly when it will be that I make the transition. I would love to keep playing until I am 35 or 36, depending on how things go."

"[Samuel] Messi is a truly great player. I don't know what more I can say about him. He is unique – the Maradona of his day,"

Eto'o

Frank Lampard Sr. & Jr.

Frank Lampard senior spent eighteen years at West Ham United, where he made his name playing at left back. He took up coaching after retiring as a player and was the assistant coach of the Hammers when Frank junior began his professional career at Upton Park. Unlike his father, Frank junior is reputed for his intelligent play and goals from midfield and without any doubt has been the more successful of the two at both club and international level.